


A Different Kind of Fun

by Paramour_Party



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bookstore, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Eavesdropping, F/M, First Meetings, Hermione's Haven Roll-A-Drabble, Meet-Cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-17
Updated: 2020-05-17
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:15:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24227212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Paramour_Party/pseuds/Paramour_Party
Summary: In which Ginny meddles and Hermione just wanted to shop for books in peace. In the end, maybe Ginny was right about having a different kind of fun.[My piece for Hermione's Haven Roll-A-Drabble on Facebook & Marvelously Magical Fanfiction Bingo.Prompt: Bookshop AU / Extendable Ears. Bingo Square: N5 - Bruce Banner/Hermione Granger]
Relationships: Bruce Banner/Hermione Granger
Comments: 8
Kudos: 44
Collections: Hermione's Haven Roll-A-Drabble, Marvelously Magical Bingo 2020





	A Different Kind of Fun

* * *

There was a reason Hermione never went book shopping with her friends. None of them had the patience or interest to browse through the stacks for an undetermined amount of time. “Just come back for me after you check out that sports store across the street,” she told Ginny after fifteen minutes of her fidgeting. 

“I spent too much money there yesterday,” Ginny replied, picking a random book from the shelf, flipping through it quickly and putting it back before repeating the process with another book. She tried not to feel sad about the potential damage to the spine Ginny was causing.

Hermione sighed looking away from the book in her hand. “There’s a coffee shop on the third floor. Why don’t you get a coffee and I’ll try to be quick?” she offered. She remembered the line had been pretty long so that should give her at least ten minutes of undisturbed browsing time. 

Ginny grinned. “I did see an interesting photo of a strawberry drink in the window.” And like the whirlwind she was, Ginny was gone leaving Hermione a moment of peace. 

She’d only gotten down two aisles before Ginny was back, a large pink concoction in her hand and a smirk. It was an I-know-something-you-don’t-know look that usually meant trouble. Hermione rose a brow but didn’t address it; she was not in the mood for any troublemaking. “Give me five more minutes and we’ll be out of here.” She’d already had three books in hand but a fourth wouldn’t hurt the wallet. 

“Sure.” 

Ginny let Hermione browse for ten more minutes undisturbed, her smirk never leaving her face. Which, honestly, was the disturbing part. “Okay, what happened?” Hermione asked, caving. 

“What do you mean?” 

“Don’t play coy with me, I know your tells.” 

Ginny laughed. “Okay, so I may or may not have eavesdropped on the guy who smiled at you when we walked in.” 

It took a moment to understand who she was talking about but then she remembered the man she’d bumped into on the main floor by the science section. His wavy dark hair falling over dark soft eyes and his shy smile. She glared at her friend. “Ginny!” 

“Are you hissing my name like that because you want me to tell you what I heard or?” 

“Please don’t tell me you brought the extendable ears.” 

“George upped the range on these, I promised I’d test it out.” 

She hid her face in the book she was holding. “I told you not to tell me,” Hermione whispered. 

“Does this mean you don’t want to hear what the man was telling his friend then?” 

Hermione tried not to look interested but just as she knew Ginny’s tells, the redhead knew hers too. “Aha! So you do want to know,” Ginny teased, nudging her shoulder and wagging her eyebrows. 

She shook her head. “It’s an invasion of privacy.”

Ginny shrugged. “I’m not hearing a no. Also, you were never one for rules. Could have sworn you spent most of your Hogwarts career breaking—”

“Ginny!” 

“Alright, alright. I’m just thinking we’re in New York and we’re supposed to be having fun.” 

“This is fun,” Hermione insisted.

“I meant _fun_ , fun.” She was wiggling her eyebrows again. “And his lady friend with the cool face tattoos thinks so too. She was trying to convince him to come talk to you.” Her voice took a sing-songy tone. 

“How do you know it was me?” 

“Oh, interested _now_ are you?” She rose her hands up in defence when Hermione moved to smack her over the head with the book, “Kidding. Anyway, I don’t see any other curly-haired cuties in nice blue summer dresses. Who else could it be?”

If eyes could sparkle, Hermione’d bet that Ginny’s sparkled with amusement. 

“I’m sure there are other—” She couldn’t finish what she was saying because the look on Ginny’s face went from amusement to downright smug. She took a step back because a smug Ginny was also a vicious Ginny. Her step back had her bumping into someone and when she turned to apologize, she couldn’t control the light blush that dusted over her cheeks. 

The man looked equally as flustered at approaching her, but his friend’s own smug look spoke volumes if she was as pushy as Ginny. 

“Ah, sorry,” Hermione said shooting her friend a glare when she laughed. 

“No, no. Don’t worry, I- uh - I snuck up on you.” He was rubbing a hand on the back of his neck. 

Ginny clapped her hand on Hermione’s back. “You two have fun, I’m gonna scheme with your lady friend here,” she said walking to the other woman, “birds of a feather flock together and all that. I think we’d get along.” 

Hermione hid her face behind her book again groaning. “I’m so sorry for my friend.” 

He chuckled but looked more at ease when she glanced back up at him. “I completely understand, my friend is the same.” He held out a hand in greeting, “I’m Bruce by the way.”

“Hermione.” She couldn’t help but notice how soft and charming his smile was up close. 

“Look, I don’t normally do this,” he started, “but would you be interested in grabbing a coffee?” 

She bit her lip. “Sure. Only if we can browse the books a little longer? Now that Ginny isn’t breathing down my neck, I can look for more books in peace.” 

When Bruce laughed, his eyes crinkled closed and he threw his head back. “I know that feeling. Maybe I can help you pick another book out?” 

Hermione returned his smile. “I’d like that.” 

They huddled together in the sci-fi section pointing out their favourite recommendations and having a very interesting conversation about space and space travel. When they exchanged numbers moments later over coffee, Hermione crushed the extendable ear Ginny tried to levitate under their table with her heel. 

If she was going to have the fun Ginny wanted her to have, there’d be no eavesdroppers. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed writing it.  
> Stay safe out there~


End file.
